45 Pending Bills in Rajya Sabha, Some Close to Three Decades Old

Other than the previous pending bills, the Lok Sabha has to dispose off 5 bills from the last parliamentary session.

The Indian parliament building in New Delhi. (Photo: Reuters)

Forty-five bills are pending in the Rajya Sabha, some of which were introduced around 30 years ago. The Lok Sabha is yet to dispose off five bills at the end of last session of Parliament in May.

One of the bills which is pending in the Rajya Sabha include the contentious Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill 2014, known as the GST Bill, which was moved in the Upper House in August last year after being passed by the Lok Sabha.

Another key bill is the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill 2015, which was moved in December last year but the discussion on it remained inconclusive.

In the Budget and Monsoon sessions this year, this bill could not be taken up.

In the Lok Sabha, important bills pending include the Consumer Protection Bill 2015 and the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015.

The last few sessions of Parliament have seen several disruptions even though the Monsoon sittings recorded relative improvement as far the completion of government business was concerned.

But the problem of pending bills is not limited to the two years of the NDA government.

Some of the bills which have been pending for decades include

• Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill 1987
  
• Participation of Workers in Management Bill 1990
  
• Constitution (79th Amendment) Bill 1992
  

On the Medical Council Bill, the report of the Joint Committee was presented way back in July 1989 while on the Workers Management Bill, the report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour and Welfare was tabled in the Rajya Sabha in December 2001, 11 years after it was introduced.

Other important pending bills are

• Waqf Properties (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Bill 2014
  
• Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition
  
• Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill 2015
  
• Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill 2016
  
• Private Detective Agencies (Regulation) Bill, 2007
  

(With inputs from PTI.)